In 2005, the IRIS Group was established as a UNIFE Group with the goal of securing higher quality in the railway industry. This was to enhance supranational competition by enabling any railway component supplier to meet globally recognized levels of quality for its railway components.
The aim of IRIS is to develop and implement a global system for the evaluation of companies supplying to the railway industry with uniform; language, assessment guidelines and mutual acceptance of audits, which will create a high level of transparency throughout the supply chain.
The IRIS system defines requirements in content, procedures and evaluation of audits as well as a requirement profile for the certification bodies and auditors.
The requirements for certification bodies and auditors are regulated. All certification bodies shall have an accreditation in accordance with ISO/IEC 17021:2015 and an IRIS approval. Only IRIS approved auditors who have participated in the IRIS Training and who have passed a written and oral examination can audit against the standard. The auditors can only audit against their competence in a certain product category. Finally, auditors who comply with these requirements shall only work for one IRIS approved certification body. This IRIS portal contains an online database that provides all the important and necessary information about the audits. There is a section available for everybody, but the main part of the audit portal is not open to the public. Only railway companies who make requests and certification bodies approved by the IRIS Group can gain access. Every passed audit report with
an IRIS certificate will be included in the online database. The name and address of the audited company together with the scope and validity of the certificate are published. The audited company can choose to make more details of the audit available to their customers by giving them specific access. Otherwise this information is strictly confidential.

Conclusion
IRIS offers an efficient and transparent System for auditing railway suppliers. The advantages for the whole supply chain are obvious. The same basic principle for all, common language and audit execution as well as high levels of transparency for all.